A new exhibition at Orkney Museum in Scotland now features an unusual star attraction: Ragna, a groundbreaking female AI character. The exhibition also includes three new galleries and a wide array of Viking Age artifacts.
A special opportunity
As press officer Rebecca McAuliffe informs The Viking Herald, the opportunity to create an AI character came after a special donation from an unnamed donor.
"We had an incredibly generous legacy left by an Orcadian who had moved overseas when he was just a boy," Rebecca tells us. "It was a once-in-a-generation level of investment."
The team began work on a new set of galleries at Orkney Museum that would tell the story of life in the archipelago during the Viking Age.
There was a feeling, however, that the donation presented a special opportunity to try something new, to build a female Viking character that could interact with visitors through the power of AI technology.
To ensure an authentic portrayal, however, the museum decided to call on the expertise of archeology curator Siobhan Cooke-Miller and exhibitions officer Tom Muir.
"Siobhan and Tom used their combined knowledge of artifacts and Norse history and folklore, including the Orkneyinga Saga, to create an incredibly detailed backstory for Ragna," Rebecca tells The Viking Herald.
"Ragna was trained up on this backstory, from her family connections to her diet and daily routine, and what was going on in Orkney and the Viking world at the time."
The exhibition draws on real finds to show that Viking women helped shape Orkney's legacy. Photo: Orkney Museum
Exploring the Viking legacy
As Siobhan explains, the team believes the choice to present a female character will help show another side of Viking culture.
"We decided on a female specifically because the stereotype of Vikings is often about men, and about warriors on raiding missions. However, Vikings and the Viking Age is more than pillage and warfare," Siobhan tells The Viking Herald.
"They farmed, fished, were involved in wide-ranging trade networks, had a legal system with a great respect for the law, and created ornate metalwork to name just a few."
The team also drew inspiration from the archeological evidence of the female presence in Orkney itself.
The archipelago was first raided by Norwegian Vikings in the late 8th and early 9th centuries. The Norse soon began forming important trade networks and settled on the islands in significant numbers.
They would go on to dominate the archipelago for some six centuries, leaving a clear legacy on local history and culture that is still strongly felt today.
"Archeologically, in Orkney, we have a lot of evidence of the importance of women, too," Siobhan tells us.
"The Scar burial is a prime example—she is the main occupant of a boat burial containing three people. The grave goods she has been buried with were very wealthy."
"She is estimated to have been in her 70s when she died—this is old for the Viking Age. She must have been respected and well cared for in her community to have lived to such an age."
Ragna's backstory was shaped by a real saga figure and the role of Viking women as respected seers. Photo: Orkney.com
Leaning on myth and legend
As Siobhan informs The Viking Herald, another Viking Age figure with links to Orkney also helped inspire the character of Ragna.
"While the AI character is not completely based on her, there is a Ragna in the Orkneyinga Saga," Siobhan points out. "She is a woman of status, a formidable figure who owned North Ronaldsay and Papay in the twelfth century. So it is a fitting name."
"Another part of Ragna's backstory is that she is a völva, or vǫlva—a powerful sorceress who could see into the future," Siobhan continues.
"Sorcery was another high-status female role in the Viking Age. There is reference to such a sorceress in the Icelandic sagas—a woman called Thorbjorg, who is treated with great respect."
"She wears clothing of striking richness, and is invited into people's homes to carry out divination, to tell men and families their fate and their prospects for the season."
"One of the pieces of equipment used by a völva is the staff," Siobhan adds. "While many of the references we find to sorcery are in written sources, there are also around 40 burials across Scandinavia and further afield where these staffs have been found."
"You can see a staff of sorcery on the table in front of Ragna on the AI screen. The staff, as this part of Ragna's backstory, captured the developers' attention and inspired her final look and her surroundings."
The exhibition uses real objects and new ideas to help people connect with Orkney's Norse past. Photo: Orkney.com
Bringing history to life
Naturally, the team also required a high level of technological know-how to bring Ragna to life.
"Her movements make use of the latest gaming character rendering—we worked with lead developer Rocketbox and Nymbl on this," Rebecca notes to The Viking Herald.
"She can engage in conversation with people via the power of conversational AI. Her appearance and dress, on the other hand, have been inspired by real artifacts on display in the museum or uncovered in Orkney, and knowledge of how people lived and dressed at the time."
The character will be available for any visitor to interact with on a personal level, providing a unique insight into Viking life.
"She is a life-size female in traditional Viking tunic and jewelry, speaking to you from beside the hearth in her home," Siobhan tells us.
"Visitors drop a Viking coin into a slot, and this gives them a couple of minutes with her to ask questions by speaking into a battle horn."
Three new galleries have also been added to Orkney Museum, with the Norse Gallery providing a series of Viking Age objects found in the archipelago. It is hoped that the combination of authentic artifacts, innovative features, and expert knowledge will help inspire even greater fascination with this key period of Orkney history.
"Details really do matter," comments Rebecca. "It's details and reflection on our knowledge of the period and of individual artifacts in the collection that has inspired Ragna and brought her character to life."
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